Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2022) 137: 439
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-022-02599-6

Regular Article

Application of nanofluids to improve the performance of a new model of micro heat sink by changing the geometry of the walls

Nonlinear Analysis and Applied Mathematics (NAAM)-Research Group, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, 21589, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

^a tsalmalki@kau.edu.sa

Received: 12 October 2021
Accepted: 14 March 2022
Published online: 8 April 2022

Abstract

In this article, a new micro heat sink (MHS) was designed and simulated. This MHS had 4 different configurations. In this MHS, pin fins were used instead of linear walls to form microchannels. In these 4 configurations, the distance between the pin fins was changed and a comparison was made between these MHS and similar heat sinks (HSs). The distance between the center of the pin fins was changed from 0.1 to 0.4 mm. Water fluid and alumina-water nanofluid (NFs) were employed to cool the MHS. These MHS were made of aluminum and could cool various microchips. The control volume method was used to algebraize the equations and the SIMPLE algorithm to relate the pressure and velocity. ANSYS FLUENT 19 software has been used for the simulations. The variable parameters are fluid velocity and volume fraction of nanoparticles for the various models of micro heatsink walls. The results of this study showed that increasing the speed in the micro heat sink reduced the maximum amount of temperature but increased the amount of power required by the pump as well as the cost of electricity required by the pump. Increasing the volume percentage of nanoparticles also caused the increasing the cost of pump electricity, but reduced the maximum amount of heat sink temperature. Among the different models, the attached pin fins to each other have the lowest maximum temperature. But this model requires the most pump power and also the highest electricity cost for the pump.